FIREFIGHTERS who attended to put out a chip pan fire alerted police to the fact they could smell cannabis in the house.

Blackburn magistrates heard officers discovered a bedroom cannabis 'farm' which Luke Mason admitted he was growing for his own use.

Mason, 28, formerly of Lowergate, Clitheroe, pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis.

He was sent on bail to Preston Crown Court to be sentenced after the court heard he had a conviction for a similar offence in 2013.

Catherine Allan, prosecuting, said Mason took police upstairs and showed them a bedroom with a padlock on the door. Inside they found 15 cannabis plants growing in individual pots with a heating and lighting system. She said the plants would have had a potential yield with a street value of £6,000.

Peter King, defending, said his client had developed a cannabis habit which eventually lead to him giving up his job. It put pressure on his relationship and his partner left him.

"He set up this up in a bedroom four weeks before the chip pan fire and there is no way of saying how many of the plants would have reached maturity," said Mr King.

He said since the police got involved Mason had made arrangements to go into a rehabilitation unit in Lytham St Annes where he was still living.